


A Living Nightmare

by IceboundEmu



Category: LoveLink (Video Game)
Genre: Drink Spiking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Reference to possible rape/violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:07:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27562762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceboundEmu/pseuds/IceboundEmu
Summary: Sam turns up at the MC's house in the middle of the night, hurt and confused.  What follows is the attempt of the MC to understand what happened and how to help Sam recover from the trauma of his experience.
Relationships: Daniel Anderson/Dahlia Vince, Jonathan Hayes/Ryan Byrne, Sam Knight/MC
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	A Living Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> Updated 15/11 came to the decision that for this story I will just stick with a bad reaction to a drink being spiked for Sam. Other possible avenues I could have taken with this story I'm not happy to write without a lot more research into the subject matter.
> 
> As with all of my stories this will consist of multiple chapters, because that way I can work on them as the separate plot bunnies attack me.

It was 1am and Sam had finally dropped off to into a troubled sleep. 

He’d turned up on your doorstep completely hysterical at 9pm and it had taken an hour before you managed to convince him to lie down on the sofa with you. Even then he wouldn’t talk about what was wrong, or make eye contact with you, lying on top of you, twitching and shaking.

Any attempt you made to physically comfort him was rebuffed at first so you’d focussed on willing yourself to remain calm and take deep breaths, hoping that in some way you could ground him. As you’d felt him start the come down he’d consented to some light touches, and his grey eyes had fluttered shut as you’d begun in run your fingers through his hair in a comforting gesture you remembered your mother doing when you were ill as a child.

Keeping up the soothing motion of running your left hand through his blonde hair and shifting carefully so that you didn’t disturb him you groped for your phone on the table, unlocking it and loading up the Lovelink app so you could see whether you’d missed any messages from him that might have preceded the late night visit. There were none that you could see, so you scrolled back up your most recent conversation with him to see if there was any hint of where he’d been that night. Again, you drew a blank, your last chat had ended abruptly when Sam had realised that he was late for work and had to run out on you.

There wasn’t really an explanation there for Sam’s unusual behaviour, but you made a mental note to drop them a call at a more reasonable hour to see what time his shift finished and whether he had mentioned where he was going from there. After you filed that thought you took a second to study what he was wearing and made another mental note to ask them how he was dressed when he left. He’d mentioned previously that he got two free cups of coffee per shift, but this seemed a little beyond the actions of a mere caffeine high.

_Unless the drink was spiked…_ your inner voice helpfully supplied. You almost dismissed the thought offhand until something in your schedule for the next few days niggled at your subconscious. Hadn’t Sam mentioned another big game coming up soon?

If someone had tried to take him out of the playoffs, you’d only got a limited time to act before the drug worked its way out of his system. Luckily for you there was one person you could call for help. He was unlikely to be asleep either, being as much of a night owl as you. There wasn’t any guarantee he’d answer the phone if he were in the lab, but at this point you’d got nothing to lose. Praying he’d pick up you hit Ryan’s number and lifted the phone to your ear.

“What’s wrong?”

The concern as Ryan answered the phone was palpable and for a moment you wondered why, until you realised that a call in the early hours of the morning was unlikely to be a good thing.

“Hi Ryan, sorry to bother you so late, are you at work?”

“Nope, Jonathan got home last night so I took some time off to celebrate and we had an early night…”

Ryan trailed off, possibly realising he was offering a little too much information that was strictly necessary, leaving you to fill the awkward silence that followed.

“Sorry about that, give him a kiss from me, won’t you?” Ryan must have had you on speaker because you distinctly heard in the background Jonathan’s grumble of “…kiss my ass” and Ryan’s attempt to hastily shush him.

“I heard that.”

You chided, and bit back a snort at the next thing you heard.

“You were meant to. So, what do we owe the early morning wake up call to?”

Jonathan sounded much more awake now, and much more annoyed. You’d joke about him not being a morning person, but you were aware Ryan had in the past, found it difficult to divorce his work life and home life and Jonathan had spent a lot of time breaking the lab of the habit of phoning at all hours, expecting Ryan to drop everything to go in. Less of an issue when Jonathan had been out with the army on manoeuvres, but now he was back and preparing to enrol in college to pursue his architecture dreams he appreciated a full night of sleep.

“I need help, Sam’s turned up out the blue and I think he’s had his drink spiked. I need a blood test…but I also don’t need it turning up on his medical records.”

If he had been drugged by someone and you took him to a doctor you were worried about the effect it being recorded might have on his future career as a basketball player (if he decided he wanted to go that way). You weren’t up to speed enough on whether professional basketball players had to have a completely clear medical history, but you couldn’t see that any club would want to take on a player who’d tested positive for drugs.

“Who’s Sam? Ow…why did you hit me? What do you mean I never listen to you?”

You laughed softly again at the sound of Jonathan being berated by his boyfriend and assumed that Ryan had passed on the news of your own successful match through Lovelink. Where Jonathan had been at the time and whether he entirely deserved the tongue lashing he was probably getting was debatable. Then Ryan stepped back into control of the phone, after instructing his other half to get dressed.

“How is he?”

You looked down at Sam who still hadn’t woken.

“He’s gone to sleep now, but before he was hysterical, wouldn’t talk to me, wouldn’t make eye contact, just keep twitching and trembling when he was lying on the sofa. Once I got him to calm down, he left me start stroking his hair, and fell asleep after that, why?”

Ryan was silent for a moment as if choosing his next words very carefully.

“Can you see any sign that someone might have hurt him more…physically than that? Any bruising or bleeding you can see?"

You gave Sam another once over, aware that the jeans and hoodie that he was wearing could be hiding a multitude of issues. But there was no staining of the fabric that might indicate bleeding in any specific area.

“I can’t see any blood, and he plays basketball, so I couldn’t tell you what a normal level of bruising for him is. Do you think I should take him to hospital to get checked out?”

Ryan was quiet for a moment on the other end of the phone, thinking things though.

“I’ll give Daniel a call, He can bring Dahlia over to give him a quick once over, if she sees anything concerning, we can decide from there.”

You felt a rush of relief that as of yet nothing would need to be made “official”, glancing at the clock on the mantlepiece showed it had only been 20 minutes or so since you’d first called, but it felt like a lifetime had passed.

“I’ll see you in about 30 minutes then. Do you remember where I keep my spare key Ryan? I’m not going to be able to get up to answer the door, I’m sort of pinned.”

“No problem, and if we can’t get in, I’ll call Skylar to see if he wants to flex his housebreaking skills.”

“Please don’t. I’ll see you soon.”

You terminated the call and settled back on the sofa to wait, closing your eyes you resolved to rest them for a minute.


End file.
